Description: Reverse says: "Central Parkway now and how it looked in Canal days." Steeped in history, this parkway of 23.8 acres extends for 4.5 miles from downtown to the edge of Cumminsville - from Broadway and Reading Road, turning right at Plum, to Liberty, to Harrison and the Western Hills Viaduct, to its terminal at Ludlow, below Mt. Storm Park. It was acquired in 1931 by the Park Board from the Board of Rapid Transit Commissions. Trees and shrubs were planted - those of a variety to endure the atmospheric and soil conditions of the downtown section, particularly the English maple, the Oriental plane tree, and the elm - three types found to be best fitted for growth in metropolitan confines. The English maples were moved to Ault Park and replaced by crabapples when the parkway islands were narrowed. London plane tree replaced most of the oriental plane trees and red oak, the elms. During the construction of Central Parkway, many gifts of trees were made. These are a part of landscape now so familiar to Parkway travelers. The Daughters of the American Revolution placed at the Central Parkway and Ludlow Avenue intersection a bronze tablet in memory of Major General Arthur St. Clair, who was an officer in the Revolutionary War, first governor of the Northwest Territory, and the man who gave Cincinnati its name. A historical marker, erected under the Ohio Revolutionary Memorial Commission's plan, stands at Central Parkway and Sycamore where the two Ohio trails branched. Reading Road following the marches of Bowman, Clark, Harmar, Harrison, Clay and Shelby; and Central Parkway folloing the route of St. Clair and Mad Anthony Wayne - brave names in those days of pioneer drumbeat and marching soldiers and frontiersmen in buckskin. The old Miami and Erie Canal which came later on the Central Parkway site did not erase those indelible footsteps from history. The canal itself is gone, a small remnant left of the $6,000,000 project started in 1825 to provide a 244-mile waterway between Cincinnati and Toledo. Yet the old canal, too, is remembered by a marker commemorating it at Central Parkway and Ezzard Charles Drive. Here was the site of a major medium of commerce. Here was the "Rhine," the boundary of the Over-the-Rhine section where Cincinnatians, in a wide-open city, crossed the Vine Street Bridge to the other side of the canal, listened to the little German bands and drank beer in their favorite saloons of the carved-mahogany-bar variety. There was the oom-pah-pah of the music and the clack of man-sized mugs, as the citizens fondled handle-bar moustaches and discussed the canal traffic. In the old canal, many of the notables of Cincinnati went for a swim in their boyhood days, and they loved every single minute of it. Central Parkway is one of the major parkways in a citywide network envisioned in the 1907 park plan by George Kessler. Extending along the former route of the old Miami & Erie Canal, central Parkway was developed in conjunction with a rapid transit railway, which was to run in a tunnel created in the old canal bed. Construction of the railway began in 1920, but ceased in 1927 when funds ran out. The system was never completed because the growing popularity of the automobile greatly diminished the need or desire for mass rail transit. When it was dedicated in 1928, Central Parkway featured broad central islands with concrete walks, trees, benches, ornamental street lamps and circular ventilators for the subway below. This scheme was mush simpler than that proposed by Kessler. In the 1950s, increasing auto traffic led to widening the roadways at the expense of the medians and fixtures, with the exception of the streetlights. In 1990, the remaining medians were replanted. Between main and Sycamore Streets, an historic marker capped with a silhouette of a Conestoga Wagon party marks the confluence of two 18th-century military trails. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B04F02_01_01
Subjects: Historical markers--Ohio--Cincinnati; Parks--Ohio--Cincinnati; Canals--Ohio--History; Miami and Erie Canal (Ohio); Waterways--Canals--Miami & Erie Canal; Central Parkway Area (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of the lift bridge at Mohawk Place along the Cincinnati Central Parkway, ca. 1920-1928. Also visible is an advertisement for the Kroger Grocery and Baking Co., founded in Cincinnati in 1883 by Bernard Kroger. The Parkway was begun in the early 1920s and partly financed by the Ohio Department of Public Works. It was constructed over the old Miami and Erie Canal bed, which was deepened to form the tube for a rapid-transit subway that was never completed. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA937AV_B01F02_031
Subjects: Transportation--Ohio--History; Ohio. Dept. of Public Works; Miami and Erie Canal (Ohio)--History; Central Parkway Area (Cincinnati, Ohio); Advertisements; Grocery stores
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Caption on reverse reads: "Indian Trail Marker (Silhouette). Central Pky. and Sycamore Str." This photograph shows a plaque with the silhouette of soldiers and a covered wagon on top, held between two concrete pillars. It used to stand somewhere near the intersections of Reading Road, Central Parkway and Sycamore Street, in Cincinnati. Inscription reads: "Approximately at this point two Ohio military trails branched. Reading Road follows the marches of Bowman, Clark, Harmar, Harrison, Clay and Shelby, 1779 - 1812. Central Parkway follows the route of St. Clair and Wayne, 1791 - 1793." A historical marker, erected under the Ohio Revolutionary Memorial Commission's plan, stands at Central Parkway and Sycamore where the two Ohio trails branched. Reading Road following the marches of Bowman, Clark, Harmar, Harrison, Clay and Shelby; and Central Parkway folloing the route of St. Clair and Mad Anthony Wayne - brave names in those days of pioneer drumbeat and marching soldiers and frontiersmen in buckskin. The Daughters of the American Revolution placed at the Central Parkway and Ludlow Avenue intersection a bronze tablet in memory of Major General Arthur St. Clair, who was an officer in the Revolutionary War, first governor of the Northwest Territory, and the man who gave Cincinnati its name. Major General Arthur St. Clair left Fort Washington, in present day Cincinnati, on September 17, 1791, following the aforementioned trail north, in order to build a fort at the head of the Maumee River. An large group of Indians led by Little Turtle and Blue Jacket, as well as army deserters and prisoners, left Kekionga in Indiana, heading south. The Indians had been receiving information about the army's movements from warrior scouts and deserters, and a large group led by Little Turtle and Blue Jacket headed south to intercept St. Clair's army. A battle ensued near what is now Fort Recovery in which most of St. Clair's officers were killed, causing him to lose his post and his reputation.General Anthony Wayne returned in 3 years with properly trained, well-equipped army, and defeated the Indians at Fallen Timbers near Toledo. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B09F10_021_1
Subjects: Historical markers--Ohio--Cincinnati; Indian trails--Ohio; Central Parkway Area (Cincinnati, Ohio); Memorials--Ohio; Wayne, Anthony, 1745-1796; St. Clair, Arthur, 1734-1818
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: View of the Miami and Erie Canal north of Bank Street in Cincinnati, Ohio, ca. 1920-1928. In the early 1920s, construction began on the Cincinnati Central Parkway over the former bed of the Miami and Erie Canal. The canal bed was deepened to form the tube for a rapid-transit subway that was never completed. This project was partly financed by the Ohio Department of Public Works, who documented it in a series of photographs between 1920 and 1928. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA937AV_B01F02_030
Subjects: Transportation--Ohio--History; Ohio. Dept. of Public Works; Miami and Erie Canal (Ohio)--History; Central Parkway Area (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of boys playing in an old Miami and Erie Canal bed near Plum Street in Cincinnati, Ohio, ca. 1920-1928. By the 1920's the Miami and Erie Canal was in a state of disrepair. The Ohio Department of Public Works partly financed a project to fill in the canal bed and build the Cincinnati Central Parkway. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02876
Subjects: Miami and Erie Canal (Ohio); Children; Central Parkway Area (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Places: Cincinnati (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)